Navy Snaps Two-Game Skid in Defensive Battle
from press release
EMMITSBURG, Md. -- The 16th-ranked Navy men's lacrosse team
paired a swarming defensive effort along with a balanced offensive
arsenal to defeat Mount St. Mary's, 6-2, at the Waldron Family
Stadium on Tuesday afternoon, snapping its two-game skid. Six
different players provided goals for the Mids, including junior
midfielder Joe Lennon (Westminster, Md.) who paced the team with
one goal and two assists.
"I thought we gave a good effort today, especially on the defensive
end of the field," said Navy head coach Richie Meade, who earned
his 150th collegiate win. "We just played with a lot more focus on
defense and in turn gave them very few scoring opportunities
"Had we shot just a little bitter better in the second quarter, we
could have blown the game open. I thought we did a terrific job
sharing the ball and getting a balanced effort from our offensive
players."
Navy's defense smothered the Mount from the opening whistle,
surrendering just three shots in the opening period. On the flip
side, the Mids peppered Mount St. Mary's sophomore keeper T.C.
DiBartolo with 23 shots in the opening half, including 18 in the
second period.
Navy began the game with an accurate arm, ringing up the Mount
three times on five shots. For the second straight game, Lennon
started things off for the Mids, sending an unassisted shot from in
tight over the shoulder of DiBartolo to give Navy a 1-0 lead just
two minutes into the contest.
Mount St. Mary's, though, would answer as a defenseman Matt Nealis
picked up a ground ball off an errant Navy play and ran
coast-to-coast to even the game with 8:43 remaining in the first
period. It would be its last for better than 53 seconds, however,
as Navy's defense created 11 Mount turnovers, while the Mids'
offense held possession of the ball throughout much of the
game.
Navy took the lead for good at the 4:46 mark in the opening period
when sophomore midfielder Brian Striffler (Virginia Beach, Va.)
bounced in a shot for his second goal of the season. The goal
sparked a 5-0 run by the Mids over three quarters of play and
featured a goal with just four seconds remaining in the first
period by starting attack Andy Warner (Corning, N.Y.), who sliced
from behind to the cage around the crease where Striffler found him
for the goal.
Junior midfielder Patrick Moran (Annapolis, Md.) scored just his
second even-strength goal of the season on a worm-burner from 10
yards out on the first of two assists by Lennon at 2:05 in the
second quarter.
The Mids pushed their lead to four (5-1) at 5:12 in the third
quarter off a spectacular play by senior defensive midfielder Geoff
Leone (Massapequa, N.Y.). After Mount St. Mary's attempted to pull
out and spread the Navy defense, Leone jarred the ball loose and
jump-started the Mids' transition game. Fellow defensive midfielder
Zack Schroeder (Deer Park, N.Y.) took off with the ball, finding
Tim Paul (Parkton, Md.) in the box, who one-timed it to Warner
behind the net, who then found Brendan Connors (Bellmore, N.Y.)
right on the doorstep for the Navy goal .
Navy scored its final goal of the game on a Lennon-to-Bruce
Nechanicky (Montgomery Village, Md.) extra-man score, as Nechanicky
came streaking through the middle to punch in a five-yarder.
The Mids surrendered their final goal of the game with just 39
ticks left in the game as Mount St. Mary's leading scorer Cody
Lehrer sent a high eight yard shot over the shoulder of Navy rookie
keeper RJ Wickham (Penn Yan, N.Y.) on an extra-man play.
"It was important for us to come back after Saturday's loss and
play well," added Meade. "I thought the team responded well, but we
need to just keep moving forward and improving."
The Mids return to action on Saturday when they play host to
Lafayette in a men's and women's Patriot League doubleheader. The
Navy men kick off the day's action at 12:00 pm, followed by the
women's game at approximately 3:00 pm. The men's contest is set to
be aired live on 1430 WNAV.
